Habitat:The Potentoboa's or the Volans Vipera (Latin for Flying Snake) habitat is not very different to it's ancesters. The Potentoboa is most commonly seen in dense humid areas and is largely based in South America. This is why the Amazon rainforest is the number one site for viewing of this magnificent creature. Since the deforestation of over 70% of the Amazon rainforest the Potentoboa found itself feeding mostly off other birds.
The Potentoboa likes the rainforest for multiple reason.The first and most obvious is that the Amazon offers the most diversity of prey and other animal life in the world. Therefore the Amazon is where the Potentoboa is most likely to find a more diverse and large food source. The bat is still the Potentoboa's number one prey but now the Potentoboa has developed methods of killing larger prey such as the Saltwater Crocodile .
The second reason the Potentoboa likes the Amazon rainforest is because of the great view and hunting point the treetops offer. A home in the trees offers great protection from predators on the ground and any aerial animal is easily overpowered by the Potentoboa. The final reason why the potentoboa likes the Amazon rainforest is because the rainforest also offers (rarely) fish in it's streams and rivers which is the Potentoboa new favourite food. The Potentoboa feeds off any fish it can find including the Lungfish.
AdaptationsStructuralWings: Unlike any of it's previous ancesters, the Potentoboa has evolved so that it has grown two extra wings. These wings offer a world of advantages for the Potentoboa. Unlike most aerial animals, the Potentoboa does not has feathers. It's wings are frequently compared to that of the Vampire Bat in the sense that it is just a bone structure with thin flap of skin lining it. These wings come in handy when escaping from it's predators and very handy in hunting birds. When these wings are not in use they are neatly folded on top of each other on it's back (See Figure 1). These wings add hardly any extra weight on the Potentoboa so it is practically as fast deadly as the Boa Constrictor is on the ground. A environmental preassure that could have caused this would be from the large loss of forest some time ago in which there was practically no prey on the forest floor. A deformity most likely occured in a certain Boa that looked like some sort of wing on it's back, this helped this particular Boa survive as it helped travelling around the air easier only gliding at first. Eventually as time went past the deformity developed into a wing which is now common for all Potentoboa's.
Paralysing Venom: The Potentoboa has evolved to possess a certain venom in it's teeth. This particular venom upon 5-10 seconds of being injected shuts down certain muscles and renders the victim completely still and useless. Although this sounds like a large advantage, it's major drawback is that the venom only renders them likes this for about 30 seconds. This means that if the venom is injected and the victim is not killed within the 30 second time period then the victim has a good chance of escaping. The way it works is that the venom is held inside the snakes front teeth and seeps out into the victims blood stream when bit, it works rather like a pen on paper. An environmental preassure that could have caused this would be that before the Potentoboa grew wings, only boa's with this abnormality had a fighting chance of catching any prey and over time this abnormality became regular for the Potentoboa.
Behavioural Killing technique Improved: The Boa Constrictors previous killing technique of strangling has been improved with the rise of the Potentoboa. The Potentoboa instead uses it's new venom and charges it's prey immediatly and bits down hard, administering the venom(see figure 2). Once the venom is administered, it then continues to coil around the prey whilst still biting down and then it refers to its old method of strangling the life out of the victim. Once the victim is dead it then proceeds to eat the animal. An environmental preassure that could have caused this would have been that Potentoboa's that used this technique were able to rack up more prey and food and therefore survive. Hunting Technique: The Potentoboa's main hunting technique has evolved with the introduction of it's wings. Instead of hanging in the trees in the hopes that bat will fly past, the Potentoboa now waits amongst the tree tops, disguised in the leaves. Once it sees the prey it wants flying somewhat nearby, the Potentoboa catapults out at high speeds and then proceeds to use it's killing technique mentioned before. This is obviously a more effective method than before. An environmental preassure that may have led to this would have been that Potentoboa's that used their wings to hunt would take more kill than those that didn't leading to a decline in the amount of Potentoboa's that did use their wings and the ones that didn't.
Physiological
Eyesight: To make this animal an even bigger predator, the Potentoboa has improved eyesight compared to that of the Boa Constrictor. The Potentoboa's eye sight is not the abnormal level of something like a hawk but it fairs somewhere in that range. This is useful especially whilst the Potentoboa is hunting in the air. An environmental preassure that could have caused this would be something along the lines of other Potentoboa's with lacking eyesight wouldn't be able to spot or co ordinate their attacks on birds as well as ones that had good eyesight which would cause the ending of the Boa's lacking eyesight's existence.
Potentoboa
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Habitat:The Potentoboa's or the Volans Vipera (Latin for Flying Snake) habitat is not very different to it's ancesters. The Potentoboa is most commonly seen in dense humid areas and is largely based in South America. This is why the Amazon rainforest is the number one site for viewing of this magnificent creature. Since the deforestation of over 70% of the Amazon rainforest the Potentoboa found itself feeding mostly off other birds.
The Potentoboa likes the rainforest for multiple reason.The first and most obvious is that the Amazon offers the most diversity of prey and other animal life in the world. Therefore the Amazon is where the Potentoboa is most likely to find a more diverse and large food source. The bat is still the Potentoboa's number one prey but now the Potentoboa has developed methods of killing larger prey such as the Saltwater Crocodile .
The second reason the Potentoboa likes the Amazon rainforest is because of the great view and hunting point the treetops offer. A home in the trees offers great protection from predators on the ground and any aerial animal is easily overpowered by the Potentoboa.
The final reason why the potentoboa likes the Amazon rainforest is because the rainforest also offers (rarely) fish in it's streams and rivers which is the Potentoboa new favourite food. The Potentoboa feeds off any fish it can find including the Lungfish.
AdaptationsStructuralWings: Unlike any of it's previous ancesters, the Potentoboa has evolved so that it has grown two extra wings. These wings offer a world of advantages for the Potentoboa. Unlike most aerial animals, the Potentoboa does not has feathers. It's wings are frequently compared to that of the Vampire Bat in the sense that it is just a bone structure with thin flap of skin lining it. These wings come in handy when escaping from it's predators and very handy in hunting birds. When these wings are not in use they are neatly folded on top of each other on it's back (See Figure 1). These wings add hardly any extra weight on the Potentoboa so it is practically as fast deadly as the Boa Constrictor is on the ground. A environmental preassure that could have caused this would be from the large loss of forest some time ago in which there was practically no prey on the forest floor. A deformity most likely occured in a certain Boa that looked like some sort of wing on it's back, this helped this particular Boa survive as it helped travelling around the air easier only gliding at first. Eventually as time went past the deformity developed into a wing which is now common for all Potentoboa's.
Paralysing Venom: The Potentoboa has evolved to possess a certain venom in it's teeth. This particular venom upon 5-10 seconds of being injected shuts down certain muscles and renders the victim completely still and useless. Although this sounds like a large advantage, it's major drawback is that the venom only renders them likes this for about 30 seconds. This means that if the venom is injected and the victim is not killed within the 30 second time period then the victim has a good chance of escaping. The way it works is that the venom is held inside the snakes front teeth and seeps out into the victims blood stream when bit, it works rather like a pen on paper. An environmental preassure that could have caused this would be that before the Potentoboa grew wings, only boa's with this abnormality had a fighting chance of catching any prey and over time this abnormality became regular for the Potentoboa.
Behavioural
Killing technique Improved: The Boa Constrictors previous killing technique of strangling has been improved with the rise of the Potentoboa. The Potentoboa instead uses it's new venom and charges it's prey immediatly and bits down hard, administering the venom(see figure 2). Once the venom is administered, it then continues to coil around the prey whilst still biting down and then it refers to its old method of strangling the life out of the victim. Once the victim is dead it then proceeds to eat the animal. An environmental preassure that could have caused this would have been that Potentoboa's that used this technique were able to rack up more prey and food and therefore survive.
Hunting Technique: The Potentoboa's main hunting technique has evolved with the introduction of it's wings. Instead of hanging in the trees in the hopes that bat will fly past, the Potentoboa now waits amongst the tree tops, disguised in the leaves. Once it sees the prey it wants flying somewhat nearby, the Potentoboa catapults out at high speeds and then proceeds to use it's killing technique mentioned before. This is obviously a more effective method than before. An environmental preassure that may have led to this would have been that Potentoboa's that used their wings to hunt would take more kill than those that didn't leading to a decline in the amount of Potentoboa's that did use their wings and the ones that didn't.
Physiological
Eyesight: To make this animal an even bigger predator, the Potentoboa has improved eyesight compared to that of the Boa Constrictor. The Potentoboa's eye sight is not the abnormal level of something like a hawk but it fairs somewhere in that range. This is useful especially whilst the Potentoboa is hunting in the air. An environmental preassure that could have caused this would be something along the lines of other Potentoboa's with lacking eyesight wouldn't be able to spot or co ordinate their attacks on birds as well as ones that had good eyesight which would cause the ending of the Boa's lacking eyesight's existence.
Figure 1 - Labelled Diagram of a Potentoboa
Figure 2- Diagram of Potentoboa's attack form
Bibliography
Answers.com.(2010). What is 'snake' in Latin. Retrieved on Thursday 29th July, 2010 from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_'snake'_in_Latin
Answers.com (2010). What is 'flying' in Latin. Retrieved on Thursday 29th July, 2010 from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_'flying'_in_Latin
Wikipedia.(2010). Boa Constrictor. Retrieved on Thursday 29th July, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boa_constrictor